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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24188440">We Must Be Strong</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawniebb/pseuds/Dawniebb'>Dawniebb</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst :'), Gen, also trigger warning: implications of an anxiety attack, she-ra eve, theyre best bros</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 00:21:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,708</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24188440</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawniebb/pseuds/Dawniebb</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Scorpia was the one who came and told him there was something wrong with Adora, and Bow didn’t ask for any further proof because she had the right to feel bad and to feel absolutely destroyed. She was only human. A normal girl, even if people refused to recognize her as such because a big sword had decided to turn her into a tall, shiny, gorgeous lady. </p><p>But because he was her friend and he was supposed to be there for her, and because Scorpia looked genuinely worried, Bow decided to go check on her."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adora &amp; Bow (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>We Must Be Strong</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Since spop is ending tomorrow, I thought it was…adequate. I’ve been in this fandom since the show’s first season came out and to think about it’s coming to an end it’s very bittersweet, at least to me. I remember watching the first season during the week I was finishing my first semester at university and I remember that semester as one of the best ones of my academic life, so I’m really grateful She-Ra came into my life in that period. This was a great experience even if each season gave me like four breakdowns per episode :’) &lt;3</p><p>This was supposed to be a Catradora fic but I ended up writing about Adora and Bow because I love them and they’re brotp material :’3 kind of angsty, but that’s how I feel about She-Ra right now, so :’).</p><p>Also, English is not my first language, but I hope you like it.</p><p>For the honor of Grayskull, y’all :’) thanks for making this fandom great.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bow had been here many times before. </p><p>Many, <em>many</em> times before…and he was certain, very certain, that never had the Bright Moon’s castle felt so empty. </p><p>He also had been here without Glimmer many times before. Many, many times before, whether it was sneaking in by himself when she wasn’t available to help him, or he had been requested by the Queen (Long live the Queen) to help her take her stubborn child out of her room so she could be properly lectured; and that wasn’t it. Bow had been through the halls by himself very late at night when Glimmer was out of power during slumber parties and one of the two had to sacrifice themself to go steal snacks from the kitchen; he had talked to the Queen by himself; he had walked through the gardens by himself when the stupid fight had gone too far and now they had to find a way to apologize. </p><p>He had been here without Glimmer many times before but never had he doubted he would see her again. </p><p>The thought of never getting to see her best friend again had never crossed his mind, but right now it was all Bow could think about. </p><p>He was usually a patient and somewhat realistic person (at least that was how he liked to consider himself) but right now, even for someone like him,  it was infuriating to see how while the world inside of his head was suspended in time, the one on the outside was still moving at its regular pace, even if it was in shambles. </p><p>Clocks ticked. Hours passed. The weather changed. The breeze turned too cold or too hot. The foreign stars shone up in a sky that appeared to be somewhere it wasn’t meant to be. People spoke. People asked. People stared. </p><p>People mourned Queen Angella because she would’ve known…No, she would’ve <b><em>done</em></b> better than this. </p><p>People mourned Queen Glimmer, because <em>oh, that poor negligent heir, whose crown was too big and heavy for her head</em>. </p><p>People mourned She-Ra, because what was Etheria to do without her; because what is that <b>child</b> to do without her sword. </p><p>People, hesitantly, celebrated King Micah’s return because if it wasn’t Angella, and if it wasn’t Glimmer, then he was the one to fix the mess they had left behind. Or at least the one to take their place in that unfortunate throne. </p><p>Bow had been confused and disappointed the whole time. Confused and disappointed on how they seemed to care but at the same time they seemed to not be getting it at all; how they weren’t capable to look above their own pain and realize they were falling into pieces too; How Angella had been someone’s mother; how Glimmer had been someone’s best friend and someone’s daughter; how there was a normal girl inside of She-Ra and they were lucky she was still alive; How King Micah had returned home only to find his wife and daughter to be gone. </p><p>Bow felt confused and disappointed in them until he remembered they all were in the middle of a war.</p><p>A war that, at least today, they had lost. Of course, they had won some things, and, at the end of the day, they were still here in one piece. </p><p>But they had also lost too many things they weren’t supposed to. One of them being Glimmer…And She-Ra’s sword. And Bow knew they would manage to keep fighting because that’s what they always did, but he wasn’t sure how. </p><p>Scorpia was the one who came and told him there was something wrong with Adora, and Bow didn’t ask for any further proof because she had the right to feel bad and to feel absolutely destroyed. She was only human. A normal girl, even if people refused to recognize her as such because a big sword had decided to turn her into a tall, shiny, gorgeous lady. </p><p>But because he was her friend and he was supposed to be there for her, and because Scorpia looked genuinely worried, Bow decided to go check on her. </p><p>The walk to Adora’s chamber was the longest he’d ever had to walk, mostly because he had moved very slowly, scared to find out what was Scorpia referring to. Still, when the door was right in front of him, sheer courage ran through his veins along with his blood. And then, in a blink, Bow’s knuckles were knocking against the door.</p><p>No response, as expected, but now that Bow knew he had taken the time to knock and try to be polite, his conscience was clean, so he opened the door even though permission had not been granted.</p><p>When he faced the conditions the bedroom was in, there was only one thing that popped in Bow’s head: </p><p>
  <em>“We hit things.”</em>
</p><p>Sometimes thinking about small children being under the Horde’s care was enough to make Bow’s heart ache for days as if it were breaking piece by piece. </p><p>Those poor creatures; stolen childhoods, stolen happiness…stolen lives. </p><p>The room looked like a hurricane had torn it apart.</p><p>Some of the furniture was on the floor; there were broken things, ripped paper sheets, ripped documents, including a map of Etheria and some unnecessarily complicated notes about Princess Prom; in fact,  the only thing that appeared to have been treated with delicacy was the broken sword; placed on the bed, and all of the pieces they managed to recover placed in order, like a puzzle, only it was still detached. </p><p>Adora was the last thing Bow’s eyes found; she was knelt down, really close to one of the walls; Bow couldn’t see her face, but he could almost bet her stare was blank; her hair was down, as it had been when they had arrived, but it looked more like a mess now; her hands were placed on her lap, but even from here Bow could see her knuckles were bruised and had tiny red spots, which made him feel speechless…even breathless, he dared to say. And the need to run towards her and shake her was unbearable, but he tried to hold himself back as if his life depended on it. </p><p>And he gave her time until Adora felt his gaze fixed on her and her head started turning around to face him. Very slowly, as if she were yet to process her body was experiencing movement. </p><p>When Bow saw her, he saw exactly what he was expecting to see. </p><p>Her eyes were red and swollen, and her cheeks looked shiny due to the tears that were still drying on her skin. </p><p>Still, when she managed to identify him, she cleaned her nose with her arm and then sniffed. Next, her dry lips were the shape of a forced, broken, barely put together smile that, if anything, made her lower lip quiver more than it made it look more relaxed. A look that, as a whole, made her emanate a more worrying aura. </p><p>Adora took a deep, faltering breath before speaking. </p><p>“Hey, Bow.” She said in a hoarse voice. </p><p>That’s when he allowed himself to finally approach her, kneeling down behind her. </p><p>Slowly, Bow hugged her from her back; Adora sniffed again, interlocking her fingers between Bow’s as her way to correspond the hug. A couple of seconds later, she was mildly shaking, but he could feel her swallowing very hard with every breath. </p><p>Bow held her tighter, closing his eyes. </p><p>Beneath her shirt, Bow could feel the traces on her skin from the scratches Catra had given her some time ago. He had never seen those scars, but he had been there the day Adora was laying face down while they tried to heal the wounds (To be honest, Mermista and Frosta hadn’t helped much). </p><p>Actually, Bow had been there most of the times Adora had allowed anybody to take care of her wounds; people tended to see her as this invencible giant lady because that was what She-Ra looked like but, in reality, Adora was scarred. </p><p>She was tossed around in every battle as if she were a mannequin; she was wounded, injured, bruised and  emotionally and physically attacked every single time she had to face the war. And people didn’t seem to notice that. </p><p>Or maybe they did but refused to admit it, because it was more relieving to think of She-Ra as this almighty warrior who would get up every time even if she was bleeding to death. </p><p>And she did, but not because she could, but because she chose to do so. </p><p>And, to Bow, it was unfair to ask this much out of a person; it was unfair to be in the middle of a war; it was unfair to scar someone’s body and mind this much and this bad. </p><p>Like any kid who had grew up in the Horde and any kid who had been born in the middle of this conflict, Adora was stolen. Her everything was stolen. Literally, because she had been taken from her family when she was just a baby. </p><p>And now, even when she was in a safer environment than the Horde, the consequences of that kept taking things from her. </p><p>Bow felt as if he were hugging what was left of her, and if he dared to let go even just a bit, she would turn into dust. </p><p>This was just Adora. No longer She-Ra. And even if in other circumstances that could’ve been liberating, this time was the opposite. </p><p>She-Ra was gone. </p><p>Just like Angella. </p><p>Just like Glimmer. </p><p>Bow rested his forehead on her shoulder, and he felt her hold getting tighter, as she leaned her cheek on his skin. </p><p>“I’m getting her back.” Adora muttered. “She-Ra or not. I’m getting her back.” </p><p>“<em>We</em>’re getting her back.” Bow corrected. His voice sounding like a very thin thread. “She’s <em>our </em>best friend.” </p><p>And it was unfair. <em>Very </em>unfair. </p><p>“But we must be strong.”</p><p>Adora shivered. Gulped again. Breathed. </p><p>Spoke. </p><p>“We must be strong.” She repeated. </p><p>Because they couldn’t waste more time mourning Glimmer’s absence, because they had to use that time to find a way to bring her back. </p><p>The world was still spinning.</p><p>And time was running out. </p>
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